BDO LLP is an accountancy and business advisory firm, we provide integrated advice and solutions to help businesses navigate a changing world. Our clients are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high growth businesses that fuel the economy.

We share our clients’ ambitions and their entrepreneurial mind-set. We have the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise to help them succeed.

BDO LLP operates in 17 offices across the UK, employing 3,500 people offering tax, audit and assurance, and a range of advisory services. BDO LLP has revenues of £428m and is the UK member firm of the BDO International network. The BDO global network provides business advisory services in 162 countries, with 74,000 people working out of 1,500 offices worldwide. It has revenues of $8.1bn.

BDO gives trainees all the training they need to attain their professional qualifications, along with extensive practical experience that includes on-site client work. The firm provides constant support to help you achieve your potential.

'Achieving My Potential’ is BDO’s organisational framework. It is made up of 4 key elements – core competencies, technical competencies, values and attitude. In essence, what you do and how you do it.

Overview

A BDO client will generally have some short-term goals and a long-term vision. But standing in their way will often be a number of tax-related issues. Our job is to act as guides through the complex, ever- changing landscape of tax legislation, to help our clients get where they want to be by the most effective route.

To do this, we must offer many different tax services. These include day-to-day compliance with the tax authorities, advice on employment taxation and international tax, transaction support for deals such as mergers and acquisitions, VAT services, expatriate tax advice and more. Such a diverse offering means we need similar variety in our team. We need specialists who can handle the most technically challenging and sector-specific issues, we need versatile and people-focused individuals who can field a wide range of questions from large owner-managed businesses, and we need brilliant innovators who can work on tailored solutions to address a client’s specific circumstances.

Human Capital

Our Human Capital Tax department is made up of approximately 50 team members, primarily centred in London. We advise companies with regard to tax issues affecting employers and employees. The wider department is split into three teams: Employment Taxes (compliance and remuneration planning), Share Plans & Incentives (employee incentivisation) and Expatriate Tax (employees moving around the globe).

The Share Plans & Incentives Team works with publicly traded companies, unquoted small and medium businesses and international companies to advise on, design and deliver pay, reward and incentive plans. These plans are either structured as cash bonus schemes or more commonly, involve the employee receiving shares in the company they work for or another company within the group.

It is conventional thinking that the success of companies is dependent on retaining motivated employees who can effectively drive a business forward. Providing a tax efficient incentive to key employees is an effective, cost saving way of aligning the interests of employees, directors and shareholders. The government recognises the contribution that incentivised employees can make for propelling economic growth and therefore have continued to promote a range of ‘approved’ share incentive plans with tax advantages for both the employee and employer.

The work the Share Plans & Incentives Team does range from the initial consultation with clients thinking about how to develop their businesses, to the design and implementation of often complex and diverse plans, to advising on implementation and operation of those plans. This work can cross multiple jurisdictions and include working with BDO’s international partners. The Share Plans & Incentives Team assists all disciplines which make up Human Capital and beyond, often advising on the impact of corporate transactions on employee incentive schemes.

A role within the Share Plans & Incentives Team would give an opportunity to learn about all aspects of incentivising employees in the work place. Our work is mainly advisory work so whilst you should be involved in compliance, you would get involved in advisory projects at an early stage. You would have early exposure to clients and the opportunity to shadow more senior members of the team on calls/at meetings so there is an early opportunity for interaction with clients. With experience there would be increased exposure to both client relationships and advisory matters.

Qualifications

Graduates joining us on the Graduate Programme will spend 3 years working in the business and during that time will study towards the CTA (Chartered Institute of Taxation), allowing you to become fully qualified.

Business Area

• Analyse clients’ reporting obligations to HMRC and complete compliance tasks under the supervision of the relevant Manager;
• Attend meetings to assess clients’ needs when considering how to recruit and incentivise employees;
• Take responsibility for all client matters as directed by the Share Plans & Incentives Team;
• Under supervision, assist with preparing and drafting employee incentive plan rules and ancillary documentation; and
• Research into relevant legislation affecting the design and implementation of tax efficient incentive schemes;
• Liaise with clients to assist with BDO’s ‘on boarding’ client engagement process, including conducting due diligence on clients and drafting terms of engagement;
• Assisting with the preparation of written reports providing detailed tax advice relating to client specific arrangements.

Core competencies

• Interest in tax and employee incentivisation;
• Intuitive analysed thinking to help clients to consider clients’ commercial objectives and ability to identify potential risks to achieving those objectives.
• Demonstrate strong written and spoken communications to express ideas coherently and clearly.
• Focus on delivering high quality work with attention to detail.
• Demonstrate strong problem solving approaches to tasks.
• Ability to develop strong professional relationships with clients and colleagues within the firm.
• Willingness to learn, undertake any training or development co-ordinated by the Tax team and become an expert in the specialist area.

Requirements

Candidates must have the following grades (or international equivalent):

• A minimum 2.2 degree in any discipline;
• 3 A Levels at grades A*- C, excluding General Studies and Extended Projects;
• A*- C at GCSE in Maths & English Language.

We are looking for candidates who display strengths which are aligned to: Business Thinking, Collaborating, Innovation and Change, Communicating, Developing Self and others and Decision Making.